Blood Runs Thickest
by DarkShade
Summary: Cyrus' son, Robbie, wants to avenge his fathers death. He rebuilds the ocularis, recaptures the 12 ghosts, and a thirteenth. What he doesn't know is that his 13th ghost is a relative of on of the original 12. Can they stop him in time? Yeah, Probably. My


Blood Runs Thickest  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own 13 ghosts (though I wouldn't mind owning Ryan). The  
only characters I own are those not mentioned in the movie.  
  
Robbie Kriticos stood on the banks of the river, looking out over the water. A glass cell, inscripted with Latin, stood behind him, and he wore a pair of familiar looking glasses. This particular night, he was more excited than he had ever been. For tonight, if all went well, he would have his thirteenth ghost, the last object needed to open Hell's gates and avenge his father, Cyrus Kriticos's death.  
A piercing shriek cut through the deadly silence, and, lifting his gaze, Robbie saw, on the opposite bank, exactly what he had come for. Smirking, he motioned for his assistant to turn on the tape.  
  
A hypnotic Latin chant sounded on the breeze. To Tawney, standing on the opposite bank of Robbie's team, it sounded slightly different.  
  
Arise and come forth,  
By the power of God,  
Rise from your refuge...  
  
She shivered slightly, then realized that her body was fading. A moment later it dawned on her that she was being controlled by the spell.  
  
"That's it..." Robbie grinned. He could see the spirit trying to fight the spell, but he knew she couldn't. Already she was gliding toward the cell.  
"Closer, you little bitch, almost there..." He braced himself. The wraith was only a few yards away now.  
  
Tawney was only ten feet from the cell. In a fit of anger, she grabbed one of Robbie's assistants and threw him in before her. A strange sensation washed over her body. She needed to kill...  
Every trace of self control she had ever possessed vanished instantly. Lunging for the man, she sunk her fingernails into his soft flesh, tearing the skin. His screams and cries for mercy reached deaf ears. Warm blood trickled over her pale hands, and she dug into his body further, using her teeth now. Soon the yells stopped, and Tawney turned to glare at Robbie with cold, eerily familiar grey eyes.  
  
Robbie raised his arms in triumph. He led a team of four men, dragging Tawney and her prison behind them, down the hall of cells. Looking around for a moment, he motioned for the team to position the cell next to Dana and across the hall from Ryan.  
None of the Black Zodiac ghosts even looked up. They were used by now of Robbie coming down to torment them regularly. However, most at least glanced over when Tawney uttered an unexpected screech. Robbie growled. "Godammit, shut UP!" he walked away, kicking the cell angrily as he passed.  
Dana, eyeing the mangled body in the cell, looked shocked. None of the females had ever attacked someone like that. Royce, who had opened his mouth to say something flirty, closed it instantly and looked away.  
But Ryan, hearing the angry screech, looked over curiously. His eyes widened.  
"Tawney?!"  
The said wraith jumped at the sound of her name. She looked up into a pair of steely grey eyes, identical to her own, and for a moment looked as if she was about to cry.  
"Ryan? Oh my God, what did they do to you?!"  
Breaker, who had been watching the whole thing, looked more shocked than anyone present. He turned a confused gaze to Ryan. "Wait a minute. You know her?"  
Ryan spun around, aiming a deadly glare at the speaker. "Of course I know her! She is my sister."  
  
Royce had since gotten his cocky self confidence back, and hadn't hesitated to start bugging the crap out of Tawney.  
"You must've been fightin' 'em off daily when you were alive." "Shut up." She growled, throwing him a warning look.  
"I'm just sayin'. It's amazing that a pretty little thing like you could possibly be related." he shot a look of pure loathing toward Ryan. ".to that car wreck."  
Ryan slammed his hand against the glass angrily. "Godammit Royce, will you give it a rest? How many females in this room have ever been attracted to you?"  
Royce didn't appear to be phased by this, yet his eyes narrowed visibly. "Lot more than you, psycho."  
Ryan's hands balled into fists, but otherwise he remained calm. "You're pathetic. You think every girl you come across automatically wants you, just because you're the former 'hero' of your lame little hick town."  
That's when Royce totally lost it. Bashing a fist against the wall of his cell, he yelled, loud enough for everyone in the basement to hear, "At least I didn't spend ten years of my life in rehab, you freakin' lunatic!"  
The entire hall was silent, for everyone knew that Borehamwood Asylum was an extremely touchy subject for Ryan. Dana, exchanging a look of horror with Susan, whispered under her breath, "Major diss!"  
Tawney stood and gave Royce a look that could kill. She looked him over, her icy gaze coming to a rest on the wooden bat he always carried. "You have no idea how much I'd like to bash your thick skull in right now."  
He smirked and held the bat out to her. "Go ahead, sugar. Take your best shot."  
Tawney laughed coldly. "I would, but I'm not supposed to hit girls."  
Royce's eyes narrowed even further. He studied her for a moment, then turned to Ryan, who had curled up in the corner of his cell and was now watching their quarrel intently.  
"You're lucky your baby sister was there for you this time, Kuhn. Next time, you won't get off so easy."  
Ryan fixed him with an acid glare. "Is that a threat?  
  
Robbie, who was busy flipping through the spellbook, knew nothing of the fight going on downstairs. That is, until one of his workers burst into the office, sweating and coughing up blood. He collapsed into a chair, panting.  
Robbie slid his chair away from the desk and stood up.  
"What is it now, McKormick?" His assistant managed to reply between gasps. "Ghosts. Fight. Basement. Tried to stop."  
"Oh, for the love of." Robbie grabbed the book and headed for the stairs.  
  
Royce, who had been trying to shatter the glass between himself and Ryan, stopped when he heard footsteps on the stairs.  
Tawney stopped cursing at him and sat down on the floor of her cell. Suddenly a flash of light erupted in her brain. Then a stream of thoughts and images that weren't her own flashed in front of her eyes. The Ocularis. The spellbook.  
Then, as suddenly as the thoughts had occurred, everything went dark.  
  
The first thing Robbie noticed when he entered the basement was that the attention of every ghost in the hall was focused on a particular cell. The new cell.  
The second thing, when he looked closer, was that the ghost in that particular cell seemed to be having a seizure. She was screaming loudly and writhing on the floor, thrashing as if some invisible force was attacking her. Then it stopped. She stopped moving and shrieking, and just lay still on the ground.  
Robbie decided that this probably wasn't something he should interfere with, and backed slowly out of the basement.  
  
When Tawney finally came to, she had the attention of everyone present. When she looked around, she noticed that there wasn't one spirit who didn't looked stunned, shocked, even traumatized. After what felt like hours of uncomfortable silence, Ryan was the first to speak. "What the hell was that?"  
Tawney sat up and shook her head. "I dunno. I just got a flash of thoughts of images I had never even known about, and then." She stopped, noticing that Breaker looked especially happy about something. "What?"  
Sitting back and still smiling, he replied, "Tawney, I think you just had a vision."  
She raised an eyebrow. "And what the heck does that mean?"  
"It means that you just might be able to get us all out of here."  
"How?"  
"Can you remember what you saw?"  
She thought hard for a moment. "Yes. I saw this spellbook, and then some weird spinny thing with blades." she paused again at a sharp intake of breath from just about everyone in the room.  
"What? What is it?"  
"Ocularis." Ryan whispered the single word, more to himself than anyone else. But Tawney overheard it.  
"Uh huh. And does someone want to tell me what the hell an Ocularis is?"  
Dana vounteered first. "The Ocularis. In Latin, it means 'the eye of Hell'. It's an ancient machine that was designed by the devil and powered by the dead. us. Years ago, we were enslaved by Cyrus Kriticos, who wanted to get power through opening the Eye. We thought we had destroyed him for good. But now his descendant seeks the same purpose."  
Ryan slumped against the wall of his cell. "We have to get that book and stop him."  
Royce snorted. "Don't even bother. Even if we could get out of this God forsaken prison, he carries the book everywhere. Probably even takes it in the shower."  
Tawney stood up. "Well, we're gonna try." She looked around. "We need something to get their attention. Billy!"  
The young boy looked up, surprised. "Yeah?" She smiled.  
"I've got a plan. Newman, you'll start by causing a shitload of noise. Y'know, just to get one or two of Kriticos's thugs down here." Dana nodded.  
"Now here's where you come in, Billy. I need you to cause some sort of distraction, like whacking your arrow against the glass or something, then when they open your cell to calm you down, slip out and run for it."  
"How come I have to do it?"  
"Because you're the smallest and therefore hardest to follow. Oh, and if absolutely necessary, shoot them."  
He nodded.  
"Okay. Everybody ready?"  
Just as Dana was opening her mouth to let out a piercing scream, Breaker held up his hands. "Wait a minute. No offense Tawney, but this plan is totally insane."  
Tawney glared at him. "And I suppose you have a better idea?"  
"Well. no."  
"Precisely. BREAK!"  
Dana started to yowl. In a matter of seconds, three of Robbie's crew members were coming down the stairs. Tawney waved for Billy to start, and he began violently stabbing the glass, sending sparks everywhere. Just as Tawney had predicted, two of the men went for Dana, while the other headed toward Billy's cage. As soon as he opened the door to confiscate the arrow, Billy plunged it into the guy's foot and took off toward the stairs. The two thugs, now desperately trying to shut Dana up by wrestling her to the floor, couldn't hear their partner's cries of pain over her screaming.  
When Tawney saw Billy coming back with the spellbook, she joined Dana in shrieking. One of the remaining two men abandoned her and went for Tawney instead, and she motioned over his shoulder for Billy to throw the book to her. He did so, and she kicked it into the corner of her cell, collapsed and shoved it down her shirt in one swift motion. Her captor, deciding that his strength was too much for her, went back to help his friend. As soon as Dana noticed that Tawney had shut up, she did too, and the two men could now clearly hear their coworker's whimpers. Shutting the cells, they went to help him up the stairs and left the ghosts alone.  
  
Tawney grinned and took out the book. Since she dared not talk in more than a whisper, some of the more distant ghosts had to strain their hearing to listen. She flipped through, scanning pages here and there, then finally stopped.  
"Here we go. How to stop the Ocularis. 'The only ones with the power to stop the Ocularis are those born to the same mother; bound by blood, and seperated by time'." She looked up to see most of the spirits staring at her with bewildered expressions.  
Dana looked thoughtful. "That means it's gotta be Tawney and Ryan. They're the only ones who fit the description."  
Billy shook his head. "What about Margaret and Harold? They're blood relatives, too."  
"Yeah, but the book says 'born to the same mother', meaning they'd have to be siblings."  
Susan looked puzzled. "What about that 'seperated by time' piece?" she turned to Ryan. "Just how long have you and Tawney been apart?"  
When he answered, it was in a barely audible whisper.  
"I haven't seen her since I left for Borehamwood."  
  
Months had passed since the spirits confiscated the book, and, luckily, Robbie hadn't missed it. Not that he needed it any more. He had the Ocularis completely rebuilt and ready to use. And today was the day. He moved toward the tape recorder, let his hand rest on it for a moment, then pressed play.  
  
The haunting sound of the spell drifted into the basement. Tawney felt a familiar tingling sensation as her body began to fade. So did the spirits around her. When she reappeared, it was on a circular piece of metal in front of what she recognized from her vision as the Ocularis. Soon the other wraiths began to appear. None looked too startled. They had been through this before.  
Tawney managed to sneak a glance at her brother, standing a few spaces to her left on the disc. He caught her eye and nodded.  
  
Robbie watched from across the room. So far everything was going as planned. His father would have been so very proud. But wait. What were those two ghosts doing? He watched in a mix of fear and anger as the eleventh and thirteenth ghosts began to move toward the Ocularis.  
  
Tawney watched for the signal, sneaking looks every now and then at Ryan. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he motioned for her to go. Together, with perfect timing, they moved closer to the machine. The blades cut through her body, and yet she felt nothing. And then she was at the center. Suddenly the ground began to tremble. The blades spun faster. Parts of the Ocularis were flying every which way. And then came the explosion. The walls surrounding the house's occupants and the Ocularis were blown apart with the force of a hurricane.  
Then it was over. In a haze of smoke and rubble, the ghosts pulled themselves out of the ruins. They, for the first time ever, were truly free. Tawney stood up and brushed some loose pieces of glass from her jet black hair. Coughing, she looked around and her heart skipped a beat. Could an explosion that large destroy even ectoplasm?  
But she didn't have long to worry. About twenty feet away, she saw a familiar figure rise from the debris. Ryan looked completely frazzled, and his cage was even more bent out of shape than usual. Trying in vain to straighten it, he gave up and weakly brushed the glass from his clothes. Hearing what sounded like a deliberate cough, he turned to see Tawney standing about two feet away. Both were at a loss for words. The siblings simply gazed at each other for a moment, then embraced for the first time in over 70 years. 


End file.
